Sword Art Online: The New Reality
by Nakato-kun
Summary: Nakato, Yuki, and the other ten thousand people got trapped in a virtual reality world called Aincrad, which was in the game Sword Art Online. If you died in the game, you will die in the real life as well. Nakato, and Yuki were 16 year olds in the real world, but in the game, they were the elite swordsman and swordswoman who cleared the floors of Aincrad, and fight for liberation.
1. Chapter 1

I opened my eyelids and started to get up onto a sitting position. My room was colder than usually. I remembered that I turned on the room heater on my ceilings last night, but I was still cold. That's probably because it's November.

The room was really, really messy. Mountains of dirty clothes stood in the middle of the room. Posters were hung on top of each other all of the dark blue wallpaper. Books and pieces of paper were all over my bed and my computer desk. The bookshelf next to the desk was practically empty with dust on it. A digital clock was hung onto the wall showing the time right now.

It was 9:30 AM. November 6, 2022.

I opened my month and said with a low tone.

"Heater, Air-con off..."

Series of beeps were heard all across the room. The fan of the air-con and the heater stopped spinning, while their lids started moving and shut them both. Suddenly, my phone vibrated on the desk, making a really uncomfortable sound.

I placed my feet on the cold, smooth wooden floor and started to walk to where the phone was. The phone's wallpaper was a screenshot of a girl facing a half-bull, half-human boss with a rapier on her right, ready to attack the beast. It was a screenshot from the Beta period of the first ever VRMMORPG game, "Sword Art Online". A small black window appeared on top of the wallpaper, showing that I had a message from someone via a messenger. I tapped on it, and displayed the message.

'Yuki: Good Morning :)'

'Me: Good Morning, when should we "dive in"?'

'Yuki: Hmm...The server will be up at 12, so, let's "dive in" at around that time :)'

"Me: K :)"

I was excited already. The Beta period ended about a week ago, and I haven't been on since that time. Thinking about it, I really feel bad about all the stuff I got in the Beta period.

I looked at my surroundings again and started to work. I changed the sheets and covers of my bed and pillows. I picked up all of my books and placed them orderly onto the bookshelf. For the clothes on the floor, I picked them all up and placed them inside big baskets and dumped them inside the washing machine. I grabbed the pieces of paper that was lying on the desk and dumped them inside the bin. Finally, it was all done!

I looked at the digital clock once again. 10:04 AM.

I went downstairs to the kitchen. The house was empty. My mom and dad had gone off to work since 7 AM. And my sister was probably going to her friend's house, or went shopping at the mall nearby. Scent of minced pork ribs flew into my nostrils immediately, as I entered the kitchen. I glanced at the counter of the kitchen, and there it was. Ribs! I went to the refrigerator and grabbed the bottle of milk with my left hand, and grabbed my cup with my right hand. I placed them both on the counter, and went to the rice cooker with a plate on my hand. I put some rice on the ceramic plate, and placed the plate next to the plate of ribs.

The TV remote was at the far end of the kitchen's counter. I quickly grabbed it and changed the News Channel to the MMO Stream channel. The screen flickered and then showed the channel on the screen.

"This week's game of the week must be the first ever VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online! Thousands of people have been waited for the release of this game. Thousands of copies of the game that was online were sold in seconds. The waiting line for buying the game was made for people to wait for 4 days!"

The female familiar MMO Stream announcer announced with a sweet and high-pitched voice, as I gobbled the rice and pieces of meat from the ribs. Before I knew it, I finished it all! I then grabbed the plates and cups and placed them into the dishwasher neatly. I grabbed the TV remote and pressed the "On/Off" button. The TV screen flickered for a sec then went black.

I walked upstairs to my room, and twisted the knob of my door and went inside. Beep, Beep! Beep, Beep! I went to my desk and grabbed my phone again. '5 messages from Yuki' I pressed on the window and quickly scrolled through the messages.

'Yuki: What will you do till then?'

'Yuki: Hello?'

'Yuki: AFK again... -_-'

'Yuki: I think it's nearly the time to login!'

'Yuki: 30 minutes left'

'Me: I think its 15 minutes left now!'

'Yuki: I'm so excited! '

Next to the message that was sent was the profile picture of Yuki. She was a beautiful dark brown haired girl with braids. Her brown eyes glimmered like crystals. She was doing a peace sign while gently smiling at the camera. Behind her were me, and couple of other guys smiling at the camera. I can't believe why a girl like her would be interested in video games, and not shopping like other girly stuff.

'Me: IKR :)'

'Yuki: Hmm...I think it's already on!'

'Me: REALLY?!'

'Yuki: Yeah, I checked on the website just a second ago!'

I pressed the "ON" button of my triple screened monitor. I placed my palm on the mouse and double clicked on the browser I frequently used. I then clicked on the website bookmark on the top of the screen. The website loaded for a few seconds then appeared on my screen. At the top corner was the status of the server, "5678/10,000 players online". I gasped then turn off the monitor.

'Me: Imma "Dive In" right now! ;D'

'Yuki: Yeah, me too :)'

I turned my phone to vibrate, and threw it next to my pillow. I quickly went on my bed, and laid there for a moment. I then reached for a helmet-like object and looked at it. "Nerve Gear: Full Dive" was written above the screen. I grabbed the Ethernet cable, charging cable, and client cable then plugged it onto the Nerve Gear as quick as possible. I glanced at the window of my room for a moment, as birds chipped and sang outside on the tree branches. I then turned back to the Nerve Gear and placed it onto my head. A digital clock was at the left corner of the screen, while the battery logo showing that it is charging was at the right corner of the screen. I then shut my eyelids.

"Link start!"

I said that with a low tone, as darkness started to take over. After a few nanoseconds, streams of rainbow started to appear then banished. The familiar tests took place. Hearing: OK. Sight: OK. Smell: OK. Taste: OK. Touch: OK. The test windows then disappeared. Replacing those tests was a login panel. I tapped on the username, as a holographic keyboard appeared in front of me. 'Nakato'. I then tapped on password and typed my password on the holographic keyboard. After this, I tapped on the "Remember me" check box, and tapped on login. A window appeared. "Do you want to use the character 'Nakato' from the Beta test?" I tapped on the rectangular [OK] button. "Welcome to Sword Art Online!" Before I knew it, I was sucked into darkness, so I closed my eyes. Vertigo hit me, as I opened my eyes.

I looked at the structure in front of me. It was the Black Iron Palace, where they kept the people who broke the rules of the game during the Beta test. I folded my palms and formed a fist, while looking down smiling. I looked around me. About two or three thousand people filled the great central plaza of the "Starting City" probably wondering about this beautiful place, Aincrad.

Aincrad is what the world is named. It is basically made out of stone and steel. The gigantic castle was in the sky. The floating castle was divided into 100 different floors, and each floor has a diameter from 8 kilometers to 12 kilometers. And this is the first floor, so it is probably the biggest floor on Aincrad. Surrounding Aincrad was the infinite sky. And if you looked down, you could see nothing, but clouds under the gigantic floating castle.

Two soft hands were placed on my shoulder, as I was wondering about this amazing place. Long dark brown hair swayed onto my face. The scent of the hair was like petals of roses. The small figure then jumped onto me, which made me fall down to the ground.

"Nakato!"

The figure shouted at me, as she was on top of me. She looked like the girl on the wallpaper of my phone this morning. They both had the same body, and also the same hair. And by the way, Yuki's real-self and her in-game self looked really similar. They both had the same braids but, Yuki's real hair was lighter.

"You scared me..."

I spoke gently, as I tried to get up. I started to look around and noticed that everyone was watching me. I looked down with embarrassment, and grabbed Yuki's hand and ran from the central plaza and headed for the direction of the Black Iron Palace. Yuki's hand was soft, and warm.

"Where are we going?!"

Yuki asked, as we made a left turn through an alleyway then headed for the marketplace. The marketplace was crowding! Male and female players were walking along the small streets of the marketplace. NPC sellers were shouting about what they were selling, while players went to shops and bought some goods with their starting 100 col. Col is the currency of this game.

"Hmm...We're buying our beginning items, of course..."

I spoke, as I headed for the armor shop which was right next to the weapon shop. I tapped on the counter of the shop and selected "Hard Leather Chest-plate", "Hard Leather Shins", "Hard Leather Arm-guard", and "Cotton gloves". After selecting all of those, I glanced at the cost of those items. The total cost was 35 col. I tapped on the blue circular "O" button, and accepted the trade. After that, I placed my thumb and index finger together and started to pull down. I tapped on the "Player" button, and then pressed on "Inventory. I then tapped on "Equipment" tab. I equipped all of the equipments I bought.

I looked at Yuki, and saw that she was also putting on her starter equipments, as we walked to the weapon stand nearby. I then tapped on the counter like I did earlier, and then selected the "Starting Silver Long Sword", which only cost 10 col. I tapped the "O" button, and equipped the sword to my back. A black leather scabbard appeared on my back, with the sword I've bought from the muscular NPC who crossed his arms fearlessly.

Apparently, Yuki bought a starter rapier, like she did in the Beta test period from about two months ago. Yuki grabbed my arm and skipped to the nearby city gate which was at the end of this tiny street. The city gate was really big. Carvings of monsters and the city's name were on the top of the gate. Gigantic doors were attached to the sides of the gate.

We bought sprinted out of the city, and headed towards our regular hunting spot from the Beta period. The air was cold and moist, but I love it. Autumn and winter are my favorite seasons. It was autumn in reality, and I didn't know that it was also autumn in-game so I was pretty surprised.

Green grasslands could be seen from the dirt road which we are running right now. Mountains and valleys which were far away could be seen from here. I turned back, but the "Starting City" is nowhere to be seen. We've been running at full speed for a few minutes now, but I didn't feel any exhaustion or lost of breathe at all.

Wolves, Boars, Wasps, and other creatures can be seen on the grasslands. We headed towards that place and sat there for a moment. I was sure that the creatures would have noticed by now, but they just ignored us. The grass was soft. To be honest, it was softer and fluffier than my pillows in reality. I lain on the grass, and Yuki did too.

"I feel more alive in here than in the real world"

Yuki exclaimed as she blinked a few times, while looking at the ceiling of the floor which really look like the sky.

"I think so, too"

As I said that, Yuki looked at me, and smiled. She then looked at the ceiling again. After a few minutes of lying down on the grass, I got up and pulled the sword on my back with ease. Yuki got up a few seconds after I did and grabbed her rapier from the sword's scabbard which was attached to her belt. She dashed towards a 'Frenzy Boar' and launched her starter skill with speed which was 'Linear'. The boar's HP decreased by half and hit the yellow zone, as it faced Yuki. Yuki jumped over the boar, as it dashed to attack Yuki. Yuki landed behind the boar, and then launched that attack once more. The boar's HP dropped from the yellow warning zone to the red then it was all depleted. A window appeared in front of her showing the amount of Col, Experience, and Items she got.

I was watching her with my mouth opened wide the whole time, as she finished of the boar. I then shook my head then shut my mouth, and smiled with embarrassment. Yuki opened her mouth, and tried to say something, but then just shut her mouth.

I drew my one-handed sword, and then dashed towards a wolf with speed. The wolf noticed me, and jumped to me. As it jumped, I slid my shoulder to my left and dodged the wolf's attack swiftly. I then activated my sword skill, 'Rage Spike'. Red light effect brightened up the sword that I was holding. Soon my body and the sword hovered towards the wolf; right after a green light effect brightened the sword for one second. The sword went through the sword, and got a critical hit. The wolf's HP dropped from full to the red area then it was all depleted. A familiar window appeared in front of me, and then just closed automatically after that.

Yuki looked at me with a 'what the...?' face and then walked towards another monster, and attacked it like she did before. I stared at her beautiful avatar as she killed the monsters, one by one with the rapier she was holding.

The sky around us turned amber, as the sun was setting. Orange light made the once green grasslands became orange. Birds were flying from north to south across the horizon. The grass smelled even more wet and moist as the sky turned red.

I lied on the grass for a few minutes, admiring the sceneries around me. I had fought lots and lots of monsters since I logged in this morning. I glanced at the left corner of my field of vision, and saw my HP bar, my Experience bar, and my level. My HP bar was full, and my experience bar was at the halfway point. My level was 4.

In other MMOs, level 4 was weak. But in "Sword Art Online" and on floor 1, hitting level 4 in just a day is really, really hard because the level bar of SAO needs really high amount of Experience to level up each time, and the monsters of the first floor drops a really small amount of Experience. One may need a few weeks to level up to level 10 on the first floor.

"Hey, what's your level?"

I asked with a low tone, to Yuki which was lying on the soft grassland next to me. Her long brown hair was blocking her face, so I wiped her hair out of her eyes. Her soft eyelids were shut. Her cheeks were as pink as the cherry blossom, and her face was really, really beautiful. Her soft hazel colored lips were half opened.

I poked on Yuki's pink cheek, as I glanced at the time on the right corner of my field of vision. It was 5:30 PM. And I started to get hungry again already. Yuki finally woke up, and sat on the grass, half asleep.

"Good evening"

"Good even-..."

She stopped speaking and looked at me with enormous eyes. She looked down, and wiped her face. She then yawned softly, and looked at me again.

"What time is it?"

"About 5:30"

"Hmm...It's 5 already?"

She spoke softly, and then sighed. She opened her mouth and continued.

"I think imma logout for a bit; I'm starving!"

"Yeah, me too"

I spoke with a smile. I heard my stomach growl really loud. Emotions and feelings were overstated in the SAO system, so that's probably way my stomach growled so loud like this.

Yuki then placed her thumb and index finger together, and pulled down. She pressed on the "Settings" button, and "Options" button, and pressed on...

"The logout button is not there..."

"What?"

"It's not there..."

I then toggled the menu quickly, and pressed on "Settings" then "Options" and... It's really not there. I began to become worried right now. I then sighed a bit and regain my usual calmness.

"Hmm...It must be a bug"

"Yeah, since the official release is today and all"

"Try calling the GMs"

Yuki quickly pulled down her thumb and index finger again. She then pressed on "Contact", and then pressed on "Call GMs". A window showing the red GM's cloak appeared in front of Yuki, as the main menu disappeared automatically.

"They're not answering"

Yuki spoke with a soft, worried tone and looked at me anxiously.

"Hmm...Let's wait for a while; the GMs will surely fix the problem soon"

I spoke with a calm voice, and looked at Yuki with my usual smile. I then toggled the main menu again, and tried to call the GM as I sat down on the soft grass below me. Just then...

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

The sound of a huge bell was sounded across the first floor. The sound made the grass which swayed by the wind look like they are dancing. The sound was so loud that I and Yuki needed to cover our ears. After about a minute, the sound stopped.

"What's going on?"

"It's a system announcement, like in the..."

Crimson blue light shone across my body, as I spoke. The crimson light was so bright that I needed to shut my eyes. The sound effects of the light were so powerful that I can't hear anything around me. I knew what this was. It was a forced teleport, like it was in the Beta.

When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by several thousands of people. To be exact, everyone on the server. All ten thousand people were in the gigantic plaza. In the middle of the plaza was a tall clock tower, with a bell on top of it. Giant pillars surrounded the plaza from the right and left that formed two semi circles, leaving two gates for people to get out of the area. But, the two gates were protected by an invisible force field, so it was impossible to get out. All ten thousand people were wearing the 'What is happening?' face as they were teleported to this gigantic plaza.

"Look!"

I faced the Black Iron Palace, and looked up at the sky, as someone shouted. Two polygons were on the sky. [System Announcement] and [Warning!] was written on it. After a few seconds, the amber sky that was once there was replaced by the polygons that were written [System Announcement] and [Warning!].

This had never happened before in the Beta so it made me a bit nervous because of its red sinister color. Yuki was also worried, and grabbed my left arm with speed. I placed wrapped my right arm around her body as I looked up in the sky.

Red blood-like liquid oozed out of the polygons and fell halfway to the ground, and then was attached together. After that, the red liquid started to morph into a gigantic figure, and stood up. The figure was wearing red embroidered cloak with gloves on his hands.

Something came into my mind. That was the cloak that GMs wore at the events in the Beta. But in the Beta, the GMs had either a beautiful girl's face or an old wizard's face. But...

It had no face, nor a body.

It started to speak as it raised both of its hand.

"Players! Welcome to my world!"

Those words echoed through my head from that time, until now.

* * *

**AN: Please note that the next chapter will be published next week so stay tune; make sure to favorite, and follow this one. And if there's any spelling mistakes or grammatical mistakes, please do tell me via the reviews. Arigato Gozaimasu~! ^^**

**P.S: This is my second fanfiction, so I think this will have a bunch of mistakes. I abandoned the first one since it had too many spelling, grammatical mistakes, and also had only 2 followers. I hope this one could get a better result. Anyways, thanks for reading. ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

Sunlight went through the old window illuminating a small part of the room. Coolness went through my body, and across my spines. I began to shiver because of this coolness. The room was barely lit up because of the dim sunlight. I tapped on the lamp which was sitting on the side table and tapped the grey "O" button. Light started to fill the room.

The room was really small compared to my room in reality. A coffee table stood near the French window that leads to the small balcony. Two chairs were facing each other by the coffee table. A desk stood at the far corner of a room with a few guide books on it. A small bed was in the middle of the room.

I yawned for a few seconds, and then sat on the bed. I opened my eyes, and stretched my arms and shoulders. The only thing I can here was the sound of birds chirping, and singing. This reminded me about the day it all started.

* * *

"Welcome to my world"

Those words echoed across the gigantic central plaza as the cloaked figure spoke. Everyone looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what's happening. And that voice...

"I'm Kayaba Akihiko"

Everyone gasped and was shocked when those words came out of the figure's mouth. No, it didn't even have a mouth. It had neither a body nor a face.

"From now on, I am the only one that can control the world."

Everyone in the plaza became silent. Their eyes were opened wide, feeling that something strange was going on.

"What the...?"

Yuki said with a low tone, while looking at the robed figure with her eyes opened wide. For some reason, I felt that something bad was going to happen, because the robed figure looked kind of scary and the plaza was protected by some kind of force field.

"Most of you might have noticed that the logout button was no longer there. However, this is not a bug but a true feature of the game Sword Art Online"

The robed figure continued, as the players that were in the plaza gasped. Everyone's eyes and mouths were opened wide the moment the figure finished that sentence. Some had already broken down into tears.

"To logout from this game, you must beat all of the floors on Aincrad. Right now, you are at the lowest point of the floating castle. To advance to the higher floors, you must beat the floor's boss."

The robed figure continued to speak. I was shocked, and started to shout.

"What? During the Beta, the testers had only made it to the 6th floor. How the heck could we finish all the 100 floors?!"

Yuri looked at me for a second with sparkly eyes. I could tell that she was about to cry, so I placed my right palm onto her head and tried to comfort her.

"There are no shortcuts to logout the game. So, if your relatives or partners or anyone took of your Nerve Gear, microwave signals from the Nerve Gear will go through your brain, thus ending your life"

-Ending your life. Those words echoed through my head. The players around me were also speechless. Their eyes still stared at the gigantic cloak figure. Windows started to pop up all around the figure. The windows showed websites and TV channels, warning people not to remove the Nerve Gear.

"213 people already lost their lives because of this. So, it's a very, very low chance for anyone to take the Nerve Gear off from your head"

213 people lost their lives because of this maniac. 213 people! One of those 213 people could even be people that I knew. The windows started to disappear one by one. After they all disappeared, the figure toggled his main menu and pressed on some buttons which I can't see.

"And, from this point forward, all of any resurrecting methods will be removed from the game. Meaning if you die in this game, the microwave signals will shut down your brain and end your life"

As the figure finished that sentence, sobs could be heard from my right. It was Yuki. I could see streams of tears rolling down her blossom cheeks. Her shut eyes were watery, so I wiped her tears by my right hand quickly.

"Why? Why would he-?"

"You all are probably wondering "Why? Why are you doing this, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the Nerve Gear and Sword Art Online?"

Before Yuki could finish her sentence, Kayaba cut her and spoke with a loud voice. Everyone continued to stare at the figure, speechless.

"Well, I've already accomplished my goal. My goal was to create a world where I can control, and just act as a god"

Kayaba continued.

"I have prepared a gift for everyone. So, please feel free to check it out"

After saying this, I toggled my main menu, and tapped on "Inventory". I then tapped on "Items". After that, I scrolled to the last object in my inventory. An item named "Mirror" appeared at the end of the list. I quickly tapped on it, and then tapped on the "Turn into object" button. A mirror appeared in front of me after bright white light shone it. I quickly grabbed it and looked into it.

It was the reflection of my avatar's face. I had dark brown eyes, with long brown hair covering parts of my left eye. The hair style was similar to my real hair style, except that my real hair was kind of shorter, and the color was darker.

After a few seconds, bright light covered my entire body. Screams and shouts can be heard all around me. Soon, bright light covered the plaza. I shut my eyelids.

When I opened my eyes, nothing strange happened. But...

"Yuki?"

"Nakato?"

"You look life your real-self"

We both spoke at the same time, a little bit shocked. Both wearing the worried face, we turned to face at the cloaked figure again.

"I wish you all the best"

Kayaba shouted with his dull voice, as the cloaked figure began to glitch and fell from where it was. When it had fallen halfway down, the body turned into a blood-like liquid again and got sucked into the polygons that filled the skies. After that, the polygons suddenly disappear and the amber sky was back.

Silence hit the plaza for a few seconds, then came the chaos. Screams, shouts, cries, and others filled the plaza once again. Some players fell down. Some others were crying. Some others were almost in the insanity state. Yuki, which was right next to me, fell to the ground and cried out loud. I too was shocked, and terrified.

* * *

Those memories of "That Day" just popped up in my mind. I felt like it was just yesterday. I really want to just shake it all out of my mind.

I shook my head for several times, then began to place my feet on the wood floor. I strengthened my feet and began to stand up. After standing up, I placed my thumb and index finger together and pulled down, which toggled the main menu. I went through my inventory and equipped my "Steel Chest-Plate +4", "Frenzy Boar Leather Boots +4", "Black Coat +2", and my "Bane Annihilator +4".

I began to walk towards the desk, and picked up one of the guide books on it. I scanned the book, and saw an eye-catching item, which is called "Anneal Blade". It is a really heavy one-handed sword, with simple decorations on it. By the book, I could see that the sword can be obtained by a very difficult quest. So, I lost interest in it.

To be honest, I got all of my items, by these guide books which can be found at random item shops from every city on the first floor. I was really useful, and it was all totally free. It shows quest walkthroughs, how to obtain items, tips, and .

I glanced at the digital clock at the corner of my field of vision, and noticed that it's now 9 AM.

'Knock, Knock, Knock!'

I dashed to the door with my guide book on my left hand. I twisted the door knob and opened the door. Yuki was in front of me. Her long braided brown hair was swayed from left to right. She was wearing a blue cotton long-sleeved shirt, with a silver chest-plate on top of it. She wore a pink skirt, long white and red pairs of socks emerged from her blue shoes.

"Good morning"

Yuki said with a cheerful voice, but I can feel that she was stressful inside.

"Good morning, should we get some black bread? Or, go to some restaurant?"

"Hmm...Maybe we should get some black bread; I'm saving money for buying some stuff"

"Okay"

I spoke with a depressed voice. Black breads don't have any great taste at all. In fact, it doesn't have a taste. It was the plainest food in Aincrad. That's probably because they cost 1 col.

We went into my room, and Yuki did too. I grabbed the books and tapped on them. I then tapped on the "Return to Inventory" button. The books flashed with blue light and then disappeared into my inventory.

After that, we headed downstairs to the lounge, and left the small building. Players were roaming the streets of Tolbana already. NPCs were shouting and selling their products. Some players were dining in restaurants. Some were shopping for materials and equipments. Some others were merchants, who sold stuff like rare monster drops, blacksmithing materials, weapons, . And some even sold information for money; we call them info-breakers.

After a two minutes walk, we finally arrived at our destination. The bakery! Of course, they don't just sell bread. They sell cupcakes, cakes, jams, breads, butter and other kind of that stuff. But people, rarely bought them, just because of its high price.

I glanced at the glass counter, and looked at the pastries, and cakes with my mouth opened wide. My stomach was growling, but I didn't even notice it. I turned to Yuki once more, and saw that she already bought a bunch of black bread, and some jam.

We went and sat at the one and only table at the far corner of the bakery, and placed the bread onto the wooden table. I placed my hand on top of the jam's jar and pressed on the "O" button. Light covered my index finger. I placed my index finger onto my bread, and a big spot of pink colored jam appeared on top of it.

I grabbed my bread with both hands, and pushed it into my mouth. The pink colored jam tastes like strawberry jam from the real world, but this one is a bit sourer. I started to gobble the bread, and before I knew it, I finished it all. Sticky substance was on my upper lip but, I didn't care.

Yuki looked at me, and giggled. She then placed her index finger onto my lips and wiped of the jam from my mouth. She then licked it, and smiled at me. I looked down quickly, and felt that my face was hot. Emotions are overstated inside the game, so steams were actually coming out of my head.

"OK!"

Yuki declared as she finished her bread. Her hair swayed once again, as she stood up from her seat. A couple of guys were looking at us, from the wide window of the bakery. The guys were whispering to each other about something that I couldn't hear. But I could read their lips.

"Wow, that girl looks amazing!"

"I know right"

At that instance, I glanced at those two with the 'What do you want?' face. Those two backed of nervously, and stopped looking at us, and walked away like nothing happened.

We both headed out of the small bakery, and headed to south of the town, which was the labyrinth maze area. We climbed the hill by the small stairs which lead us right to the labyrinth area. The gate was made out of dark obsidian and figures of monsters were carved on it.

Currently, people had mapped out till the 18th level of this structure. So, in a day or two, people will be gathered to fight with the first floor boss. Well despite that fact, we also need forty to fifty people in order to kill the floor's boss.

We headed up to the 18th level, and mapped a couple of unmapped area on it. While doing that, we've also encountered some monsters on the way. But, we dealt with all of them without any injury at all. Finally, we found the stairway that led up to the 19th floor.

We gave each other a high five, and went deeper. We've encountered a different type of creature this time. In the dungeon, the most common monsters were "Kolbold Trooper", and "Kolbold Ranger". But this time, I've encountered a monster called "Kolbold Archer", which was pretty new to me.

I gripped the handle of my sword from my back and pulled it out of the scabbard with speed. I went into a defensive position, and dashed to the enemy. The enemy cried the familiar cry, and shot its bow. I turned my body a bit, and dodged the flying arrow.

"Switch!"

After saying that, I moved aside, as Yuki went flying with speed to the monster. When Yuki was in front of the armored monster, she activated "Linear" once which took out 40 percent of the monster. As the monster gripped its crossbow again, Yuki did another "Linear" which made the monster became stunned. It took out another 20 percent.

"Switch!"

I dashed towards the monster with speed, after hearing Yuki saying that. I quickly activated "Rage Spike" and flew into the monster eliminated the last 40 percent. It was totally overkill. The enhancement to sword has sharpness 3 and speed 1, so my skill could have taken at least 50 or 60 percent of the monster.

A familiar window appeared and then disappears in a few seconds.

"Hmm...I think it's a rare monster"

Yuki exclaimed as she checked the guide book from her small bag from her back.

"Yeah, it is..."

Yuki continued as she showed me the picture of the monster from the book. The book showed that the monster drops a really rare item.

I opened my eyes wide and quickly toggled the main menu. I tapped on "Inventory" and pressed on "Equipment" with speed. I scrolled to the bottom of the list, and saw the rare item. "Judgment Hammer" was its name. I tapped on it and pressed on the "Turn into object button".

A red sword appeared in my hand replacing my old sword. The blade of the sword was red with black around the blade's rims. A tiny black skull was stuck onto the handle. Pieces of leather were wrapped around the grip. From the looks of it, it was a "Demonic Sword".

"Demonic Swords" are rare swords that can be dropped from certain monsters. The percentage of the chance of a demonic sword to drop was one in a million, so it was indeed really rare. The damage that the swords can deal was pretty high. Carrying around a demonic sword is a high risk, because of the rarity and the damage that the sword deals.

I then swung it a couple of times, and activated sword skills a couple of times just to test it out. The sword was heavy, but I could swing it easily because of my STR stats. I then inserted the red sword into the scabbard on my bag with a clang sound.

"Lucky you..."

Yuki said that sighing as we both walked forward, and mapped out parts of the area.

"Haha, lucky me"

I bragged as I faced her with a smile. I now noticed that Yuki was worried or depressed about some reason. I placed my right arm onto her shoulder and wrapped it around her neck. Her soft hair was swaying by my right arm, as we walked.

"What's wrong?"

I asked with a curious tone, and looked at her brown shimmering eyes.

"Nothing...I-I'm just afraid of death!"

I stopped walking as those words leaked out of her hazel colored lips. I was shocked that she would say that kind of thing. It wasn't all like her. The Yuki I knew was fearless and brave and bold. But now, it looks like she'd changed.

"You won't die, okay? No matter what, I will protect you"

I spoke and watched Yuki's eyes which were glimmering just now. Streams of tears rolled down from her eyes as she smiled. I gave my casual smile at her, and wiped her tears.

"I-I'll protect you, too"

After those words came out of her small petite mouth, we continued to walk forwards and found ourselves in a safe zone. Four torches brightened this place from all four corners. The walls were also made out of obsidian, but it was different. Instead of the carvings, the walls here were smooth and shiny.

I glanced at the digital clock at the corner of my screen. It was 1:30 PM, and we didn't even eat lunch yet. My stomach was growling. Because of the SAO emotion system, the growling can actually be heard out loud.

"Hungry? I got some bread..."

Yuki toggled her main menu and tapped some buttons that I couldn't see pretty well. After a few taps, 2 pieces of bread and ceramic bottle appeared in front of her. She tossed me one of the bread, and caught it with one hand.

I tapped on the bottle and pressed on the blue "O". A familiar light appeared on my index finger. I dragged it and a line of thick gooey substance appeared on the black bread. I pressed the bread into my mouth, as the light faded away. The gooey substance was really sweet compared to the jam Yuki bought from the bakery.

"Hmm...What's this? Cream!?"

"Yeah, I got it from a quest"

She ate the bread gently, as she finished speaking.

"This...num...is...num...delici...gulp...ous!"

Yuri giggled, and continued to eat.

An orange circle appeared in front on me, indicating that I have a message. I tapped on it, and a message appeared.

'Please come to the first floor boss conference at the downtown of Tolbana at 4 PM today. Thanks. –Diabel'

Diabel. I thought I heard that name somewhere but I forgot where...

"Hmm...I think we should go there"

Yuki spoke as I read the holographic window in front of her.

"Yeah..."

-First floor boss conference, huh? They found the floor boss room already? That's great.

A little bit of anxiousness hit me, but happiness also came in.

-Finally, we can have a chance to get out of this damned place.

* * *

**AN: Early Upload! Anyway, maybe I'm gonna upload a new chapter everyday cuz' I'm not really busy since it's summer vacation and all. Arigato Gozaimasu! :3**


	3. Chapter 3

I continued to walk behind the crowd of people in the familiar dark labyrinth. The coolness of December sent me chills through my spines. The black coat that Yuki had sewn for me should've protected me from the cold, but the coolness was too strong for the leather coat to bear.

48 people of all ages were stomping forward in front of me. The echoes of their footsteps and chitchatting were the only things that I could hear. "Tanks" were showing off their axes and shields, while the "Attackers" showed off their swords. The "Supporters" were going through their inventories, probably preparing healing potions for the "Tanks" and "Attackers".

Although I was in the "Attackers" team with Yuki, I didn't even go near them because it might cost my life.

Ever since this "Death Game" has started, the players were separated into two groups, the Beta testers, which were us, and the normal players. The normal players accused the Beta testers that they left them behind in the "Starting Town", and heading for efficient hunting grounds and completing all of the easy quests. For the normal players, the Beta testers were like exiles or renegades. So, one must hide his/her identity as a Beta tester, if they don't want to get "executed".

After a few hours of walking from Tolbana, we finally arrived at a huge door with carvings which were familiar to the walls of the labyrinth. We met some monsters along the way, but the "Attackers" team simply dealt with them without any casualties.

"Let's have some rest first!"

A tall blue haired man spoke with his high-pitch tone. Metal armor was strapped around his body, which covered his light brown shirt, and dark brown torsos. A black leather scabbard was strapped along his belt, and a kite-shaped shield was strapped to his back.

After the man finished speaking, everyone collapsed onto the cool obsidian floor. Everyone toggled their menu, and opened their inventory. All of them were getting some bread and water, and was having some lunch, since it was already one and a half.

"Let's eat too!"

Yuki spoke softly right after she poked my back. A white hood, which was connected to the white cloak she's wearing, was hiding her face. Slender legs emerged from the hem of the cloak. To be honest, she looked similar to the assassin character in the Assassin's Creed Online MMORPG that we played when we were in the reality.

She toggled her main menu and went through her inventory. A box appeared in front of her after a light effect occurred for one second. She opened the lids of box, exposing bento?

"Bento?!"

"Hmm...Yeah..."

I reached my hand towards the box, but it got slapped my Yuki's.

"Use these"

Yuki gave me a pair of chopsticks as she giggled. I grabbed the chopsticks, and thanked for the food silently. I dug my chopsticks into the box and picked up one of the many pieces of bento. I placed the piece into my mouth. That taste. It tasted like the one she made for me at school once in a while.

"Wow...This taste like...But, how?"

"I used the kitchen of the house we rented"

Yuki shot a smile at me, as she spoke and ate the bento. This time I could see her eyes. They were sparkling like stars in the deep night skies. Her eyes were darker than before because of the hood that she put on.

After a few minutes, the box was practically empty. Only small specs of the delicious bento were there. To be honest, I ate almost seventy percent of the bento that was in the box, because it was pretty dang delicious.

We quickly stood up once again. I stretched my arms and legs for a moment, and then faced the door. Everyone was also standing right now, as they all finished their lunch.

I placed my thumb and index finger together and pulled down. At that moment, a holographic white main menu appeared in front of me. I tapped on "Players", and pressed on "Inventory". I tapped on "Items", and scrolled down and searched for a bottle of water. When I found it, I tapped on it and pressed "Turn into object". A glass bottle of water appeared before me. I placed my hand on its cap and twisted it opened. I gulped all the water from the bottle until its empty. As the glass bottle went empty, white light covered the bottle and shattered into pieces of polygons.

After everyone has stood up, the blue haired figure stood up again.

"Everyone! Are you ready?"

An enormous roar could be heard from the crowd of people that were there. They all looked both excited and nervous. To be honest, I'm a bit nervous too. I have defeated this boss once during the Beta, but with about eighty people at that time.

"Charge!"

The handsome figure moved forward and pushed the left door inward, while two other guys pushed the door in the right. All the 48 people charged into the dark gigantic boss room. Two rows of quartz pillars supported the ceiling. The walls were made out of colored glass and so does the floor.

Two small dots of light can be seen from the other side of the boss room. A growl was heard from that direction. Suddenly, the once dark boss room suddenly lit up in a matter of seconds. And from the direction of the growl was a twenty meter monster with a fat pig body, but its head was a head of a dog. Its skin was dark red. Holding in its right hand was a gigantic axe. Sheathed horizontally was an unknown sword, which everyone assumed to be the "Talwar". Around its head was four HP bars, and right next to it was its name, "Illfang the Kolbold Lord"

About twenty humanoid monsters, wearing knight's armor and holding maces, spawned surrounding the boss. Their names were all "Ruin Kolbold Sentinel". We all gasped as the small creatures dashed forward.

As the creature dashed forward, I unsheathed my sword and dashed towards it as well. When I was halfway to the creature, I activated the sword skill "Rage Spike" which made a bright blue light effect. When the light turned green, my red sword dashed forward and impaled the heavy armored body. It was a one-hit kill, but no one noticed as they were also attacking the other sentinels.

"Attackers A, switch with B!"

Yuki and I dashed towards the giant as team A backed away, when the blue haired guy announced. Yuki activated "Linear" and took out 20 percent of the 3rd HP bar. The boss turned to Yuki, and stopped attacking the "Tanks". As the giant raised its axe ready to slay Yuki, I yelled.

"Switch!"

I raised my sword to the axe, and "Parried" the attack.

"Switch!"

Yuki, which was stunned for a moment, then activated "Linear". The only thing I could see when she attacked was the dark green light effect that the sword was making. Another 30 percent of the boss's HP was taken off.

"Switch!"

I dashed forward to the boss and attacked it normally for a couple of times. After a few swings, the boss's 3rd HP bar was depleted. The boss didn't even face me, because it was busy dealing with the "Tanks" which dealt all of the damages while the "Supporters" handed them potions.

"Attackers B, switch with C!"

We dashed back to the sentinels, killing them one by one. But, they won't stop respawning until the boss was killed. So, we could do nothing except keep attacking and killing them.

After a few more switches, the boss's last HP bar was at the red zone. There were no casualties yet, so felt pretty good. Suddenly, the boss dropped the axe that it was using and unsheathed it's...

"Diabel, don't!"

Someone shouted as yellow light effect illuminated the blue haired man's sword. The boss unsheathed a katana, which was really different from the Beta test. During the Beta, the second weapon is the Talwar. But...

"It's a Tomodachi!"

Diabel flew towards the giant with speed, but when he was halfway to the boss. The boss activated a katana sword skill. Sinister red covered the katana it was holding, and after a few seconds the katana flew towards Diabel, which was in midair.

I gasped, and I saw the scene. Diabel flew from the giant and fell to the ground. His HP dropped constantly but steadily. The one who shouted a moment ago ran towards Diabel and handed the man a potion, but Diabel refused. In a few seconds, the HP dropped from the yellow zone to the red zone and it was all gone. Diabel's body shattered into pieces of polygons of light.

The giant didn't stop there. The giant flew from where he was to certain of other players sending some players flying. The giant finally glanced at me and dashed towards me. I grabbed Yuki's hand, which was stunned, and jumped away from the giant's target zone. A big boom was heard as I flew in midair.

When I landed, the giant started to attack other players, and then stood still for a moment. At that very moment, two people dashed towards the boss. It was so fast, that I didn't even saw their appearances. The two people flew around the boss attacking it from its side. Drops by drops of the boss's HP were decreased, and after a few more swings, the boss fell down and growled loudly. Following it was the familiar shatter of the polygons.

'Congratulation!'

That word appeared in the middle of the boss room.

Everyone went silent for a moment, and then everyone just laughed and hugged each other cheerfully. I gave Yuki and high-five and smiled at her.

"We did it!"

Yuki shouted out cheerful, as she jumped towards me giving me a hug. I fell onto a sitting position as Yuki did that. I wrapped my left hand around her petite body.

After the commotion came the shouts of a cactus haired guy to the guy that had shouted some stuff to warn Diabel from before. The cactus was accusing guy and other Beta testers for the death of Diabel. The accused guy just laughed and accepted it. He got called a "Beater" which was the combination of "Beta tester" and "Cheater", and he also fearlessly accepted that.

After that big argument, the "Beater", which was Kirito, just walked out of the boss room by a staircase which leads to the 2nd floor. He was going to activate the portal which is at the living area of every floor.

Silence once again hit the gigantic room. Yuki and I casually walked up the staircase to the 2nd floor as well. Thick forest was on both sides as we walked on the dirt road which leads to the living area of the 2nd floor. Sounds of animals can be heard from every direction. Chipmunks were trying to open caps of acorns while birds were singing happily.

"Hmm...Nakato..."

"What is it, Yuki?"

"Are we going to abandon that house we rented?"

"..."

"Some of my stuff is still over there"

"Hmm...Maybe, we'll still be staying there for a while"

"Okay..."

Yuki took off her hood and pushing it to her back. Brown hair with neat braids was shown as she did that. The amber sunlight shone into the brown hair which made it a bit lighter.

"Hmm...I think I can see the city"

Small silhouettes of buildings can be seen at the end of the horizon. Yuki grabbed my arm and dashed quickly to the city. In a few minutes, we finally made it to the gigantic city.

I looked at Yuki which was gasping right. And Yuki looked at me as well, and smiled.

-This is my "New Reality"...

* * *

**AN: I finished this one early, so here it is. And by the way, I'm planning to do all of the floors of Aincrad! So, if you have any idea that you want to share, please do tell me. Arigato Gozaimasu! ^^**


	4. Chapter 4

A beam of sunlight shot into my shutting eyes, which made me wake up from my sleep. My body felt warm, like something is right on top of me. Still half asleep, I tried to go onto a sitting position, but some heaviness on my body stopped me from doing so. As consciousness started to build up in my body, I opened my eyes wide as I pulled the sheets from on top me.

"Wha...?"

I quickly got off my bed, as I spoke. Lying on top of the bed right now was Yuki. He long brown braided hair was covering her sleeping eyes. Her ears were peeking out of the rugged hair from the sides of her petite head. But, why on Earth did this happened?!

Something from yesterday just popped up onto my mind. Last night, Yuki asked me if she could sleep with me, so I said yes. Yuki was sleeping on the left side, and I was sleeping on the right side, with our backs facing each other. But still, how?

I poked Yuki's blossom cheek to try to wake her up. Yuri's body started to shook and went into a sitting position still half asleep. She stretched and yawned for a few seconds, and then faced me which was at the right side of the bed.

"Good morn..."

Before she could finish, her consciousness started to came to her body. Her face became red and actual steam came out of her face. With embarrassment, Yuki jumped out of the blanket and bed, and ran out of the room as quick as possible. Heavy footsteps can be heard as she dashed away.

"What just happened?"

I wondered to myself, and looked around my room. The room was pretty big compared to my old room at the inn in Tolbana. The wall was made out of wood but it was wallpapered. The floor was made out of smooth wooden planks, unlike the floor in the inn. A gigantic bookshelf stood at the far corner of the room, while a desk stood next to it. About a meter away from the desk stood a tall antique clock. A medium sized bed stood at the other side of the room.

"Hmm...What a beautiful day..."

I opened the window of my room, and inhaled the fresh air of the beautiful morning. Birds were chirping and chipping on the tree nearby. A few medieval-like houses stood by a dirt road which led to Tolbana. NPC villagers were walking along the road and talking to each other. It sure is beautiful...

"Nakato, I made breakfast!"

I shut the guide book and headed out of my room as Yuki shouted those words. My stomach was killing me, and I've been dying to eat Yuki's food. Well, I ate Yuki's food everyday by now, but I can't just get enough of it.

"Okay...I'm coming...oof...ah...welp!"

I slipped down the stairs as I walked down with bare feet. I thought I stepped on something, but I couldn't find out. When I landed down stairs, a polygon appeared on the floor, where I landed head first. The polygon said [Immortal Object]. Although I fell from upstairs, I didn't even lose a bit of HP. That's because I'm in a "Safe Zone".

"What happened?"

Yuki raced off from the tiny kitchen towards where I was sitting. Yuki was wearing a green long sleeved shirt with a blue skirt. An apron was on top of her outfit. Yuki lend me a hand and pulled me up to a standing position. Yuki giggled as she did that. I opened my mouth ready to say 'What?' but stopped before I could.

"Hmm...What did you make for breakfast?"

I spoke, and gave her my regular smile.

"Sandwiches"

"What kind?"

"Hmm...You'll see"

Yuki smiled and giggled at me, then skipped back into the kitchen. I went to the living room and sat at the armchair, which was in front of the fireplace. As I sighed, a familiar black button with letters under it appeared. 'Gift Box: From Proto'. I tapped on the button, and a piece of flat paper appeared in front of my eyes.

It was a newspaper. I subscribed to the newspaper, so a newspaper would be sent to me by gift every morning. Well, it wasn't like the usually newspaper. The designs were like the design of forums on the internet. On it were the normal categories of the actual newspaper like "This Week's Spotlight", "Q and A", "Guides and Tips" .etc.

As I read the newspaper, Yuki came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of food for us. She placed the try on the glass table which was by the armchair I was sitting on. On the tray were two sandwiches, which were placed on separate plates, two glasses and a bottle of milk which we got from a quest.

I grabbed the bottle of milk and uncapped it. I poured the white liquid into my glass, and capped it back. After I placed the bottle on the tray, I grabbed the sandwich on my plate. I pushed it into my opened mouth. I bit a piece out of the whole sandwich and started to chew. I opened my eyes as soon as the flavors hit my tongue.

"Hmm..."

"THIS IS REALLY GOOD!"

I shouted as I started to gobble on the rest of the sandwich. A piece of salad was in the middle. By its sides were slices of tomatoes. Thick mayonnaise was sprayed on top of those tomatoes. Thin slices of boar meat were placed on top of the mayonnaise. Finally, two rectangular thin slices of bread placed neatly on top of the slices of boar meat.

"Really?"

"Gulp...yeah...gulp"

After swallowing the last piece of the sandwich, I faced Yuki and continued.

"You could make a fortune out of this!"

"You think so?"

"Yeah"

I smiled, as I finished talking. Yuki looked at me with her cute smile. When she finished her breakfast as well, she picked up the tray of the now empty plates and glasses, and then headed back to the kitchen.

I wiped the piece of food that was on my face with the sleeve of my black cotton shirt. No spots of dirt or anything could be seen on the shirt, because it can't get dirty. But, if the shirt got scratched or torn, the durability will drop and the torn area can be seen.

I continued to read my newspaper. As soon as I finished every article on the newspaper, I headed upstairs to my room. I toggled my holographic main menu and tapped on "Player", then "Inventory". After that, I tapped on "Equipments" and started equipping my regular stuff.

My body was covered in light for a second, and then came the equipments that I've equipped. A metal chestplate was strapped over my black long sleeved shirt. Shiny metal elbow guards were strapped onto my arms. A leather belt was worn on my brown camo pants. Strapped to the leather belt were iron needles. A black hooded coat was worn on top of everything. Strapped to my back was a black leather scabbard. Sitting inside the scabbard was a red demonic sword.

After equipping everything, I grabbed the hood of my cloak and covered my head with it. I then walked out of the room quietly. Waiting for me downstairs was Yuki, wearing the similar cloak that I was wearing right now, except that hers was white. A white embroidered scabbard was attached from the light grey leather belt she was wearing.

"Let's go!"

We both walked slowly to the downtown area of Tolbana. Replacing the old fountain was a teleportation gate. I could see that many people were already there. Some was trying to get to the second floor, while others were coming from the second floor.

We both stepped on the platform and shouted at the same time.

"Teleport Urbus!'

We both shouted at the same time, as blue crimson light started to cover my entire body. The strong light effect and sound effect continued for a few seconds, so I kept my eyes shut. As the sound effect stopped, I began to open my eyes.

"Yippee! I'm back!"

Yuki squealed as she jumped off from the platform. The town square and "Teleporting Portal" were elevated but it's not that steep. Around us were small houses and shops. They were all the same heights. The thin mountain rims were the city's wall. Two gates stood at the northern and southern part of the mountain's rims.

"This is kinda cool right?"

"Uh-huh"

I smiled, as I replied. We then walked to the southern gate, and left for Marome, which was a small village, near the labyrinth area. There were no portals there so we have to walk. Mountains, prairies, cliffs, and plateaus were everywhere to be seen as we walked. We've encountered some bull-like creatures on the way but we dealt with them easily.

Any "Frontline" players have already arrived. All of them were dressed with heavy armor, and equipped with luxurious looking weapons. They were all high-leveled, and so are us. All of them are at least level 15 or above, and I'm level 17. They've all worked their butts off to level up after the casualties they've received from the first floor boss raid.

And I can't believe that boss raid was just yesterday, and they've already found the labyrinth area on this gigantic floor. By the looks on most of the players' faces, it seems that they've been exploring this floor all night! Their eyes were red, with black stained under them.

"Hmm...Excuse me"

I spoke, as I tapped on a muscular guy with dark skin. He was wearing a green t-shirt with bronze chestplate strapped on top of it. An axe was strapped on his back, which was filled with muscle. Muscles popped up from everywhere.

"Huh?"

"We are wondering about what we could do..."

"Hmm...Right now, we've found the labyrinth area..."

Yuki and I smiled, as the man spoke with a chocolate voice.

"...But, a field boss was blocking the way to the labyrinth"

"Where is it?"

"A bit north from this place...And that's where the players are heading right now"

"Cool..."

"Thank you, mister"

Yuki said cheerfully with a cute voice. The man scratched his head as Yuki finished.

"You guys can call me Agil"

"I'm Yuki, and this is Nakato"

"Nice to meet you guys!"

"You too"

Yuki and I spoke at the same time, and smiled at Agil. We've seen him before from the first floor's boss raid, but we didn't get to know him very well. All I knew was that he was in the "Tanks" team from that time, and it looks like he's still one of the "Tanks" as well.

"Very well, I think I'm gonna head there as well"

"We're also going"

All the three of us walked north by a dirt road which leads that way. We've spotted some wasps and bulls by the way, but they didn't attack us at all. We talked a lot along the way, about good inns and restaurants, cool weapons and other amazing stuff.

"We're here"

We've finally arrived at a cliff. Under the cliff was a large prairie and standing in the middle of the vast area was a 6 meter high giant bull. Storms of dirt flew every time the creature exhale. Waves of dust followed it as it galloped.

"Wow"

Yuki gasped as her eyes locked at the gigantic beast below.

"It is really big...Right now, Kibaou and the others are discussing about how to defeat this boss..."

"Hmm...Really?"

"Yeah"

Agil lifted his enormous hand and pointed at a crowd of people. The people there were huddling with each other. Shouts could be heard from those players. Familiar voices of Kibaou could also be heard from where I was.

The three of us walked slowly to that bunch of people, who were discussing stuff.

"What about attacking from its sides, while "Tanks" equipped with shields occupy it from the front?"

"That sounds like a good idea..."

"Yeah"

"So let's start organizing people and form them into parties"

"Yeah"

The group of heavily armored guys, which were also "commanders", walked out of the crowd and started to divide the group of sixty people into six parties and there were be two parties in each squad. Yuki and I and a bunch of others were in the "Support" team, to deal with the boss's minions, which were giant wasps. Kibaou and another twenty people were in the "Attackers" team. Agil and a bunch of other heavily armored guys were in the "Tanks" team.

"Great, let's head down now"

Kibaou shouted and lifted his right hand, as a tremendous roar followed after he finished. Kibaou led all the sixty people down by an elevated road to where the giant was. When we all got down, the "Tanks" rushed to the front of the bull fearlessly. When the "Tanks" were in position, giant wasps started to spawn all around the bull. As that happened, the "Support" team rushed into action, and dropped the wasps one by one.

I rushed to the wasps in two seconds, because of my high AGI stat. AGI is short for agility. AGI is really useful for attacking speed, sprinting speed and dodging speed. Ever since the "death game" has started, every time I've leveled up, I've only upgraded AGI and STR, since I'm a one-handed sword user without a shield. A shield would lower my speed, so I'm not really fond of that.

When I was in front of a wasp, time seemed to slow down for me. I could see that the wasp was about to launch an attack on me with its stinger. As soon as I saw it, I leaped backwards and launched "Sonic Leap". Bright purple covered my sword. As soon as it turned deep red, a 'cling' sound effect could be heard, and my sword flew to the wasp, impaling it in the middle of its body. I was sure that it was a critical hit, because I hit its heart. The once green HP bar turned to red then got depleted.

I turned to Yuki, which was fighting another wasp right next to me. As the wasp moved its stinger to Yuki's body, Yuki leaped upwards. While she was in mid-air, she activated "Star Splash" which she and her rapier dove into the wasp's body. Series of slashing and green light effect appeared as she did that. Finally, the wasp's HP was depleted.

After battling a few other wasps, I glanced at the "Tanks" and the "Attackers". The "Tanks" were using their shields to protect themselves from the bull as it launched its galloping skill at them every time. It seems that their teamwork is great, but for the attackers, not so much. The two teams were attacking and switching messily, since both of them wanted the rare drop. I knew what the rare drop was so I laughed as they tried so hard.

Yuki turned to me, which was laughing, and giggled as well.

"It's down to the yellow zone!"

"Kill it!"

Series of colorful flashing lights appeared along the sides of the bull. And finally, the bull's HP turned from yellow to red and was all depleted. After a pitiful growl, the bull fell to the ground and shattered to polygons of light.

"Yea...I got it!"

"What is it?"

Kibaou tapped on the white transparent window and opened his eyes wide. As he opened his eyes wide, Yuki and I just couldn't stop laughing silently. I knew what was in there, it was the "Bull's Manure". It was practically useless for anything.

Yuki, and I and the others headed forward for the entrance of the labyrinth. This time the gate was Greek-styled. Several of women statues, which were made out of quartz, stood with their hands up holding and supporting the ceilings. The ceilings and walls had carvings of the ancient Greek mythologies and other Greek stuff. It has more light than the dungeon in floor one, making it easy to navigate.

Yuki and I explored parts for a few hours, when we found a gigantic circular area. Out of curiosity, we both walked into the dark gigantic area. Darkness consumed us as we went inside. We both assumed that this was some sort of safe zone, but...

Two small yellow lights lit up; soon the whole area was lit up. A giant black silhouette was at the far end of the room. One of its hands was carrying a large warhammer. When it walked forward slowly, I could see its whole face and its whole body. It was a bull, no a human. No, it was a Minotaur from the Greek myths. Its skin was all red with muscles everywhere. A chain golden necklace was worn around its neck. It wore beautiful embroidered golden pants. It was no doubt, the floor boss from the Beta!

Shocked, Yuki and I ran towards where I came from but...

"A forcefield?"

"God dammit!"

I gripped the grip of my red sword, and pulled it out of my scabbard with ease facing the Minotaur. Besides the Minotaur's body was four HP bars, and besides it was the monster's name, "Baran the General Taurus". That was also the name of the floor boss from the Beta.

Yuki gripped her rapier's grip and pulled it out of her white leather scabbard as well. The Minotaur galloped towards us as we did that. When it was five meters from us, I leaped to right, while Yuki leaped to the left. I was really close, but we managed to dodge its powerful attack. And if we were late for one or two seconds were would have shattered into pieces of polygons.

Thrusting my sword with my right arm as I was in midair, I quickly activated "Rage Spike". Purple light effect covered my sword as I leaped to the Minotaur. My sword and I was one and we were both flying towards the huge body of the Minotaur, but...

The Minotaur's eyes locked on me, as I was flying towards him. I was two meters away from him, but it quickly managed to use its left arm and hit my small body away to the other side of the room. I felt pressure and tension as I fell to the ground. I glanced at my HP bar, and it was at the red warning zone. My vision was all red and blurry.

"Drink this quickly!"

Yuki twisted the cap of a bottle of red healing potion and forced it into my mouth. I drank it slowly, and my HP started to increase slowly. Yuki's eyes were teary when she looked at me who was lying on the ground. Yuki placed her head onto my chest.

"Raaaawr!"

The monster behind us growled, and walked slowly towards us. The monster lifted its gigantic axe ready to drop it on top of us. Yuki and I watched the beast as it lifted the axe. When it started to drop the axe, I closed both of my eyes.

-Is this the end?

'Cling' was heard in front of us. I forced to open my eyes. A small figure wearing black stood in front of us. He wore a black cloak with white decorations on top of it. A black leather embroidered scabbard hung on his back. He was parrying the Minotaur's attack!

He's Takumi? Takumi is one of our friends from school which were also a gamer from our group. But, I didn't even know that Takumi bought Sword Art Online. And I thought he was also in the frontlines but why couldn't notice him?

"Go, Go, Go!"

The figure shouted as he parried another attack from the Minotaur. Yuki pulled me to a standing position and ran to the other part of the room, and tried to get out, but it's still protected by forcefield.

"Reinforcements will arrive soon! So, help me will ya?!"

The guy spoke as he parried some more attacks and taking small amount of damage. Fatigue due to the falling in my body started to get away, so I dashed forward where the man was.

"Switch!"

The man leaped backward, as I dashed forward. The Minotaur dropped its axe downward to where I was. I moved my red sword upward; when the giant axe and the red sword had collided, sparks came out of the weapons and a 'cling' sound effect occurred. I parried the axe, so it made the Minotaur stunned for a few seconds. That was the chance to strike.

Yuki jumped onto the Minotaur and launched "Linear" twice and trice. She leaped off from the Minotaur, when she finished her attack. Ten percent of the boss's 4th HP bar was reduced. This boss is a "Tank" type, so it must've had a lot of HP.

"Charge!"

A group of sixty people dashed into the gigantic room from where I came from, and dashed towards the Minotaur fearlessly, after someone shouted. The "Tanks" dashed to the front of the Minotaur's body in their guarding positions. The "Attackers" and "Supporters" surrounded the Minotaur. After seeing that, I jumped backwards to where the "Supporters" were. Yuki and the mysterious black figure also did the same.

"Thanks for saving us!"

"You're welcome..."

Yuki glanced at the figure who was wearing in black with budging eyes, finally notice who he was.

"Takumi?!"

"Yes?"

"You're stuck in here as well...?"

"Ah...Well, isn't it obvious?"

"But, I thought you said you didn't get to buy the game!"

"Haha, well I didn't...This was actually my brother's..."

Takumi stared at us smiling.

"Quit talking! Stay on guard!"

A giant bearded guy shouted at us, before he dashed for the Minotaur with his huge two handed sword. I could tell that he was an STR type because of his slow speed and reaction time.

"Switch!"

The first "Attackers" team shouted, as Yuki and I and about ten others dashed towards the boss with speed. Nearly all of our team was AGI/STR types, so our reaction time and speed were perfect. After a few minutes, the 3rd HP bar was depleted. Then, the 2nd one was depleted.

"Switch!"

Kibaou's "Attackers" team shouted and moved forward, while our team leaped back swiftly. Kibaou's "Attackers" team fought without any teamwork at all. All of them just rushed to the kill the Minotaur just because of the rare item that the boss drops.

After a few more minutes, color lights covered the Minotaur's body and I could see that the boss's HP was on the red zone. Kibaou's team rushed even harder, and at the end the boss was killed, without any one getting killed or fatalities, and exception of me, of course.

The Minotaur's body fell to the ground and shattered into pieces of polygons and in the end the white "Congratulation!" sign appeared in the middle of the boss room. Everyone roared with laughter once again, but...

They soon realized that that was not the boss. In front of everyone was a gigantic black door which leads to the floor's boss room.

* * *

**AN: Sup! I finished this early again! Maybe there's some grammar and spelling mistakes, so if you saw one please PM me. And don't forgot to favorite and follow it if you like this one! :)**


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